


Pack Christmas

by tptigger



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Derek is better at being a big brother than being an alpha, Gen, Pack Dynamics, Pack Family, Pack Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-30
Updated: 2013-12-30
Packaged: 2018-01-06 18:54:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1110353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tptigger/pseuds/tptigger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek is actually looking forward to celebrating Christmas for once, even if he does have to share Cora with her new adoptive parents.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pack Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> One week 'til I get Jossed, probably. Though I hope that they write out Cora in a way that she could come back. (Stupid Reign. Well, it's a good show, but you know what I mean.)  
> Much thanks to htbthomas for the beta.

Derek woke up late on his morning off. He would need to be at UPS to help load the evening shipments, but he liked the late shift, it gave him a chance to sleep in. He went into the kitchenette to find a note on the fridge.

"Out with Scott, Isaac, and Stiles. Text us when you're up."

Derek blinked.

He'd thought that no longer being pack alpha would've meant that he would no longer be so overrun by teenagers. It had been less so during the rest of fall semester, at least when there weren't supernatural crises to deal with. At least until Jackson's douchebag adoptive parents who didn't deserve him had wanted him to stay in London for the Christmas holiday and weren't meeting him. Jackson sent the Pack a really long, uncharacteristically expletive filled missive about the situation, which led Derek to look up flight prices from London. But it was Lydia's visit that had sealed his resolve and resulted in his being overrun by teenagers during Christmas break.

* * *

He was still trying to figure out if what he was about to suggest was legal, yet alone feasible when there was a knock on the door.

Derek had frowned. "Who is it?"

"Lydia."

He went to the door, wondering why Lydia was knocking instead of just using the spare key that Stiles had secreted in one of the flower pots in the hallway.

Derek approached the door. "I ordered the photobook, I hope you haven't..." he stopped in midsentence, seeing Lydia's face. "What is it?"

She handed Derek her phone.

He glanced at it, then recognized the message on the screen. "I saw Jackson's e-mail," Derek said. "He sounds pretty pissed."

"If you think 'what do they think this is Hogwarts? No one fucking wants to stay at school for hols' is just pissed off, you don't know Jackson."

Derek raised an eyebrow.

"He made a Harry Potter reference," Lydia said, face wrinkling in distress. "That's Jackson Defcon Five. He doesn't like to admit he _reads_ yet alone read those books."

Derek thought about pointing out that there were movies too, but he didn't want to get into an argument with Lydia about pop culture of all things. And she certainly knew Jackson better than he did, having dated him. Before. "Does Aiden know you're here?" Derek asked. His relationship with the Alpha Twins was shaky at best.

They'd helped lock up Cora and kill Boyd and Erica. They'd scared the crap out of Isaac and otherwise wreaked havoc on the pack, and Scott let them _join_. Not a decision that Derek would've made, but maybe that's why he wasn't the Alpha anymore. He didn't care about Aiden's feelings, but the twins were working extra hard to get Isaac to like them, and Derek had a lot to make up for where Isaac was concerned, so he didn't want to antagonize Aiden more than he already had.

"Aiden hardly runs my life," Lydia said.

"Just want to know what I'm getting myself into," Derek said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lydia asked. "What do we do?"

"Check out my computer," Derek said.

If anyone in the pack could come up with a solid plan it was Lydia. Well, Stiles, but given the younger man's relationship with Jackson, Derek wasn't going to hold his breath.

Lydia looked at Derek. "You're pricing flights from London to Beacon Hills?"

"Can't leave a pack member stranded across the pond on Christmas, can we?"

"No we can't. Or in Mariner Bay without any of us up there. Have you made any headway with Cora's adoptive parents?" Lydia asked.

Derek sighed. "I still think they don't believe either of us when we tell them that she lied to me about having parents. I still don't know why she did."

Lydia cocked an eyebrow. "Like you pressed the subject."

"There wasn't time!" Derek said. "I swear, they think I'm some kind of child molester or something. I'm her _brother_."

Lydia snorted. "You could've fought them for custody and sued social services for keeping her survival from you. Instead, you haul her ass back up to Mariner Bay, make her explain about werewolves, and then they have fits because you want to see her on Christmas."

"They want her for Christmas," Derek said. "Nothing wrong with that. You're all going to have Christmas with your families, we'll have Pack Christmas with Cora on the 27th."

"They should be inviting you up for Christmas so you can see her too," Lydia said.

Derek blinked. "Since when did you like me?"

Lydia glared at him. "You're asking me this _now_? After all the time I spent helping you with Cora's present?"

Derek pinched the bridge of his nose. "I thought that was because you were friends with Cora."

Lydia tossed her hair. "You're ridiculous."

"If you say so," Derek said with a shrug. "Can you help me figure out if I'm risking jail time by sneaking a minor into the country without his parents' knowledge?"

"Jackson turns eighteen on December 15th," Lydia said.

"Problem solved," Derek said. "I'll e-mail him the flight choices."

"You're the best, Derek."

"He's _pack_ ," Derek said.

"And six months ago you would've told him to quit whining," Lydia said.

Derek couldn't deny that, so he shrugged and sat at the computer.

Lydia just stood for a minute.

"Did you need something else?" Derek asked, trying to keep himself from snarling. It was on the "List of Things Derek Needs to Work On" e-mail he'd gotten from Cora the previous week.

He was pretty sure it wasn't all her idea.

"So what are you doing on the 25th?" Lydia asked.

"McCall-Stilinski Christmas," Derek said. "I think Melissa's secretly having fits at the number of werewolves attending, but she played dirty to get me to come."

"Oh?' Lydia asked.

Derek knew she was trying to refrain from asking why he'd finally agreed when Scott had been asking for a week already, and it wasn't even Thanksgiving yet.

"She got Isaac to ask me."

"Have you two ever talked about..."

"No," Derek said sharply, his eyes flashing blue.

"I'll see you at Pack Meeting. And thank you."

Derek doubted he would get the same pleasantry from Jackson. "You're welcome."

* * *

Derek got to Pack Meeting at Scott's house a little bit early.

"Jackson's on Skype for you," Isaac said.

"Isaac, I..."

"Computer in Scott's room." Isaac disappeared into the kitchen.

Not that Derek wanted to have the discussion either, but he was really tired of them avoiding it. He sighed and headed up the stairs, knocking on the door to Scott's room.

"Come in," Scott said, quietly.

Derek entered.

"Derek, you... I mean..." Jackson stammered, at least, the video was steady enough that Derek thought it wasn't Skype.

"What?" Derek asked, hoping he wasn't growling. If Jackson was going to complain about the fact that he was only looking at coach flights...

"Those flights have got to cost an arm and a leg," Jackson said. "Don't you have Cora's college tuition to worry about?"

Derek blinked outwardly, but inwardly was picking himself up off the floor. Jackson was being thoughtful?

"My bank account can take it," Derek said. "The question is can you take Beacon Hills?"

Jackson smiled. Derek wasn't sure if he'd ever seen Jackson smile like that--it actually reached his eyes.

"Pack," Scott said, simply.

"Any luck on the Cora front?" Jackson asked via Skype.

"It's going to be the 27th," Derek replied, sharply.

Something chimed from inside the computer.

"Damn, lights out in 5 minutes, I've got to go. Give everyone my best." Jackson's face winked out.

"You talk to Isaac?" Scott asked.

"He ducked me again," Derek said. "I honestly don't know if it was sending him out in the rain or the couch surfing while your dad was sniffing around."

"I think it was the part when you threw a glass at him."

"Yeah, OK, definitely that," Derek said with a sigh. "I just can't get him to sit still long enough to talk to me."

"I think he's just going to need some time," Scott said.

Derek pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Did you really think he'd take you up on your offer to come back?" Scott asked.

"No, but I thought maybe it would get him to talk to me," Derek said.

Scott scoffed. "Maybe you should try Aiden and Ethan's approach."

Stiles poked his head in without knocking. "Pizza's here, if you're done with Jackson."

Derek followed Scott down the stairs. The young Alpha rolled his eyes to see the pizzas and plates stacked up.

"Which part of 'you don't have to wait for me' do you not understand?" Scott sighed.

"The part where you're the Alpha," Aiden said.

"He's a true Alpha," Derek said, "maybe that's different."

Aiden glared at him. "Derek, give it a rest with this 'true Alpha' stuff it's ridic..."

Aiden had to stop because Lydia covered his mouth.

"It's not..."

Scott elbowed Derek, so Derek stopped talking.

"Can you two knock it off?" Isaac asked irritably.

"Fine," Aiden said.

"Done," Derek added.

It was weird that the only thing Derek seemed to agree with the twins about was not irritating Isaac. Derek was still trying to patch up their relationship after he'd sent Isaac to Scott. Why Aiden and Ethan were so solicitous was beyond Derek.

"Come on, Scott, pizza's getting cold," Stiles said.

"Stiles take some first," Scott said.

"I think I might get attacked by Voltron if I tried, no thanks."

Scott sighed, and took pizza, followed by Stiles, and then Aiden, who took two plates, loaded one with one slice of cheese and one with a slice of pepperoni and a slice of veggie lovers and handed them to Lydia and Isaac respectively.

Scott sighed, looking at Derek, who just shrugged.

* * * 

Derek looked down at the note again. "Text _us_." He decided to shower and then text. He was not prepared for some percentage of the pack to see him in his sleeping clothes with bed hair. This proved to be a wise decision.

Approximately ten minutes after Derek's text, Jackson let himself into the loft, with Scott and Isaac on his heels, loaded down with bags, mostly from Target. They dumped the bags, then started out the door.

"Where are you going?" Derek asked. "Are you going to just leave all those bags sitting on my floor?"

"One more thing," Scott said, with a wide grin.

He opened the door, and Stiles walked in with what appeared to be a Christmas tree stand. "Dude, seriously, guys, what am I here for, dramatic effect?"

Isaac took it from him, settling it in the corner of the room.

"What are you four up to?" Derek asked. He wasn't the Alpha anymore, but he still considered these kids his pack (yes, even Stiles, the little annoying shit though he liked to be).

Isaac tossed him a mischievous grin and walked out the door.

"Since we're doing 'it's not Pack Christmas without Cora' over here on the 27th, we thought it should look the part," Jackson replied.

Derek scowled. "Oh, god, is all of that ornaments and tinsel?"

"There's also an air mattress," Jackson said. "I don't feel right taking over Cora's room while she's here, and I'm not fitting on that couch."

Derek stared. "Who are you and what have you done with Jackson Whittemore?"

"The Brits are rubbing off on me," Jackson said with a shrug.

"Hey, guys, I really don't think I should try to move this tree with just Stiles," Isaac stuck his head in. "He'll drop it or something."

"This what?" Derek asked. "Oh, geez."

Jackson tossed him a grin, and went out to help.

Derek gave Scott a dirty look. "You know, maybe Pack Christmas should be at your place."

"Mom would freak. Especially since she's cooking for everyone on the 25th this year," Scott said. "And be glad, because the years it's at the Stillinskis, Stiles cooks and... yeah, it gets kind of ugly. By the way, don't even think about skipping, Jackson has strict orders to drag you physically if needed, and if you two conspire not to show up, Stiles, Isaac, and I are coming to kidnap you."

Derek stared at him.

"Pack means family. Family means no one gets left behind. Or alone on Christmas. Possibly unless you're Jewish."

Derek tried not to wince at the _Lilo and Stitch_ reference: it had been Cora's favorite movie when she was little, and she'd forced him to sit through it more times than he could count. Hazards of being a big brother. "I think they go out for Chinese food and then watch a movie."

Scott chuckled, then moved to hold the door open wider.

Derek was relieved to see that it wasn't a big tree. He strongly suspected that there'd been some surreptitious measuring, because other than the general coordination that needs to happen when moving something long between two or three people (Derek suspected that was more for the awkwardness than anything else, or possibly just because Isaac knew better than to show off just how strong he was) the tree fit fit nicely through the door, and once settled into the stand that Stiles had brought, it had a good foot of clearance between the top of the tree and the ceiling.

"Doesn't it need water or something?"

"Wet dirt in the stand," Stiles said. "If it decides to take root, we can plant it out in the preserve."

Derek stared. "What?"

"Trick I learned from Deaton," Stiles said. "Or we can stick it outside your old house if you'd rather."

"So, decorations." Jackson dove into the bags with relish.

"Crap, did we get a tree topper?" Isaac started digging anxiously through the bags.

"Just a second," Derek said, going up into the bedroom.

He went to the corner of the closet where he'd carefully tucked away the package from Cora and pulled it out. He brought it into the main room.

"Cora works part time for an after school program. She sent me some arts and crafts stuff, there might be one in here," Derek said. "Or some other ornaments. Also, if there's anything you guys want to bring from home, you can."

He suspected they all had stuff on their own trees, but it would be more personal than a bunch of Target ornaments and candy canes.

"Have you looked through this?" Isaac asked, starting to carefully unpack the box and place things on the coffee table. He carefully pulled out what appeared to be two pieces of cardboard and flipped it open. He closed it, blushing. "There's no way you looked through this."

"What is it?" Derek asked.

"It's a drawing, it's signed Cora Hale, age 10. I think you might want to look at it in private, after we leave." Isaac frowned and glanced at Jackson, reconsidering. "Or maybe we should stay. I really don't know."

Derek snagged the folder, barely noticing the flinch as his hand moved towards Isaac. Derek slid his fingernail between the cardboard pieces.

"You might want to wait 'til you're alone," Isaac reiterated quietly. He started moving closer to Scott.

"What's it a drawing of?" Derek asked quietly. He kept his tone even, volume moderated. Isaac's shoulders were drawn in tight and he smelled of fear.

"It... it says my family at the top and it looks like the kind of thing my shrink used to make me draw after my mom died." Isaac shifted from foot to foot. His heart rate accelerated.

"Mine had me do that too," Stiles said. "It was..."

Derek stared at the blank cardboard, wondering if he was better off opening it alone or with the others here. He glanced at Scott, who was frowning.

"No one's going to hold it against you if you want to take a moment, Derek," Scott said. "Or if you'd rather wait until after we take off for the movie."

"Tree topper," Jackson said, picking up an angel that looked like it was ceramic. "I doubt the kids did this one. Definitely not; Cora signed the bottom."

Derek, the cardboard protected drawing still in his hand walked up to Jackson, and then gasped, the drawing fell from his hand, cardboard protectors going askew.

"What?" Jackson asked.

"That's my mom," Derek said, softly.

He reached down for the drawing, mostly to avoid Jackson's eyes, and fumbled it, sending the top sheet of cardboard flying. His heart sank as he took in the drawing. It was a picture of Cora, in a red dress, her form a little better than the shaky pictures that had correct shaped noses but too small foreheads she'd been drawing just before the fire. In the air, with angel wings, harps, and halos, were the rest of the family. They were all labeled. Mom. Dad. Derek. Laura. Uncle Peter.

Derek felt as if he moved, if he so much as breathed, the last thread holding him together would snap. Scott squeezed his bicep, gently reaching down to get the picture off of the floor. "If you want to take that moment, no one's going to blame you." Scott frowned. "There's another one." He moved the papers, tucking the angel picture behind it, but keeping the other picture tipped towards him so that Derek couldn't see it. Scott smiled. "Oh, my gosh." He turned the picture around.

It was of Derek, a few months before the fire, wearing a tiara and pink feather boa, sitting in a too-small chair, his pinky held up with a child sized tea cup. The table and chairs were a child's set, and the other chairs were occupied by Cora, a stuffed wolf, and a stuffed teddy bear. The tea set before them had cookies and cakes.

"Why are you wearing a feather boa?"

Jackson chortled.

"What? Let me see!" Isaac reached out, taking the picture from Scott, fingers carefully on the edges. He was handling it like it was made of glass.

Stiles craned his neck to look over Isaac's shoulder. Both teens burst out laughing.

"A feather boa?" Isaac chortled. "Seriously?"

"None of you have baby sisters, shut up," Derek said.

"Well, yeah but..."

"I was baby-sitting, it was raining, and she wasn't wrecking the house," Derek said, a smile threatening to tug at his lips. 

His phone rang. "It's Cora, give me a minute. And put those pictures back in the protectors," he growled.

"Hey, Cora," Derek said, starting for the stairs.

"I know it's last minute, but Nana and Pops want you to come for Christmas dinner," Cora said. "I mean, unless you have plans."

"Um," Derek glanced towards Scott and Jackson.

"Took them long enough, don't worry about me," Jackson said.

"I withdraw my earlier threat," Scott added.

"Can someone please explain to the non-werewolf what's going on?" Stiles asked as Derek ascended the steps.

"I see the pack has you well in hand," Cora giggled.

"Two minutes ago they were giving me a lot of grief over that tea party picture you sent." Derek finished climbing the stairs, entered the second bedroom, and closed the door behind him.

"Did you finally open that box?" Cora asked.

"Yeah," Derek said. "The Mom angel for the tree..." He broke off, voice cracking.

"I probably should've warned you," Cora said.

"Yeah, the picture of our family was what really threw me."

"What picture... Pops, you..." 

"Cora?"

"He found it, I was looking through some of the stuff for pictures for the ornaments, and they found that and I wanted to burn it and..."

"I'm glad he sent it," Derek said. "I just... never thought much about what you thought had happened to Laura and me."

"I... it was hunters," Cora said. "The Bradley pack over in Briarwood confirmed that much, and when they couldn't find you and Laura we figured they'd got you too."

"You keep in touch with them?"

"I called them after we got back, because you know, part of Scott's pack now, and they'd told me to call if I needed something and I shouldn't dare think of myself as an Omega, and you would not believe the words that came out of Liann's mouth when she heard that you were alive and she hadn't found you. I sorta promised her we'd stop by when we drove down to Beacon Hills next week."

Derek sighed. "You enjoy filling up my social calendar, don't you?"

"It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it," Cora said. "Though what was this about Scott rescinding a threat?"

"He, Isaac, and Stiles were going to drag me over to Scott's house for Christmas dinner if I didn't show."

"I'm glad someone's taking care of you."

Derek shook his head. "Cora, let me explain how this works. I'm the big brother, it's my job to look after you."

"I have adoptive parents, who do you have?"

"I'm an adult."

"A broody adult who doesn't do much to take care of himself. Do you even own Christmas decorations?" Cora asked.

"A group of very nosy teenage werewolves and Stiles decided to take care of that for me, which is what prompted the opening of the box in the first place. Judging from the number of bags involved, I think this place will look like eight tiny reindeer vomited all over the place."

Cora laughed. "I should probably let you get back to those guys before Stiles breaks something."

"Cora?" Derek could hear Cora's mother's voice calling her through the phone.

"Hey, ask your nana if I can bring something."

"She'll say only yourself, and to plan on staying in the guest room," Cora replied. "Pops likes white wine if you're going to feel insistent though. If you can find something local to Beacon Hills he'll be over the moon."

"I'll see what I can find," Derek said. He suspected that Chris Argent might be able to suggest something. He'd have to wolf up and call the guy though.

"I'll see you soon," Cora said.

"Call me if you need anything. Love you," Derek said.

"Love you too," Cora said.

She hung up without saying good-bye. It was a thing.

He felt better, though, hearing Cora's voice. He went downstairs, picked up the cardboard holder, and tucked both pictures into it, then brought them up to the bedroom and placed them in a fire safe where he kept important papers. He'd figure out what to do with them later.

He went down into the main room, nearly laughing at Stiles having managed to tangle himself up in the Christmas lights.

"Why did you guys let Stiles near those?" Derek asked, moving to help Isaac try to untangle Stiles, ignoring the way Isaac winced as he approached.

Isaac's heart rate slowed again when Derek started fussing with the wires.

* * *

Derek made good time on the road from Beacon Hills to Mariner Bay, pulling in front of Cora's parents' house at around 3 o'clock on the 23rd. He had originally planned to come up Christmas Eve, but Cora had wheedled both her adoptive parents and Derek into him coming up the day before. Derek wasn't sure if he should worry about intruding, or just be glad to have more time with his little sister. He and Laura had largely ignored Christmas after the fire, and this was honestly the first year he felt like celebrating.

He had his little sister back and Pack Christmas was actually starting to sound enticing. 

Cora's mom had set dinnertime for 6, so he was pretty early.

Derek knocked on the door, prepared to get some coffee somewhere if Cora was still at school.

"Who is it?" Cora called. Speaking louder than necessary.

"Derek," he replied, shouting back.

There was cacophony as Cora ran for the door, flung it open, and nearly flew into his arms.

Derek tensed, then folded her into his embrace, and kissed the top of her head. "You okay?"

"I missed you."

"I missed you, too."

"We still have to finish this chapter, even if there is a studly dude hugging you at the door," said a girl with long blonde hair and glasses who emerged from the kitchen in the back of the house. "Geez, Cora you take off for the whole summer, miss the first two months of school, and now you're sneaking older stud muffins into the house while your parents are out while you're supposed to be studying science?"

Cora glared at her friend. "Marissa, this is my brother, Derek. Derek, this is Marissa."

"Your brother? The one you were staying with in Beacon Hills?"

"Yeah," Cora said.

Derek stiffened, unsure what her reaction was going to be.

"I'm glad you could make it up for the holiday; Cora won't shut up about you," Marissa said.

Cora had the grace to blush.

He glanced nervously at Cora's friend, then towards the living room, absently noticing that the Christmas tree was already up, surrounded by presents, and that there were stockings hung on one of the walls in the absence of a fireplace. "Maybe I should get coffee and come back when you two are done? I don't want to interrupt your catching up in school."

"I'll help you get your stuff out of the car and show you where the guest room is," Cora said. "I can start some coffee too. We have a ridiculous number of these k-cup thingies that make one cup if you want."

"Do you still have those peppermint ones?" Marissa asked.

"Nana got another box," Cora grinned. "Help yourself, I'll be back in ten ok?"

"Make it five," Marissa said, glaring. "You're not allowed to get distracted until you're done with chapter ten. If we're going to get this group project done over the break, you need to be at least that far before you leave."

"Got it," Cora said.

Marissa headed back to the kitchen, and Derek could hear the clanking of ceramics.

Cora turned back to Derek. "Where's your stuff?"

"Still in the car," Derek said. "I didn't want to have it out if no one was home."

"We can get it and..."

"How about you just show me where to put it and I'll take care of that while you finish studying?"

"OK," Cora said, "you're upstairs."

She turned, taking the stairs up to the left and he followed. He could almost see her making faces even though her back was to him. "That one's my room," Cora said, pointing to a door and hurrying past. She stopped outside the next room. "This is the guest room. The couch folds out."

The couch in question was leather, long enough that it probably housed a queen sized bed. The rest of the room was dark wood paneling and probably doubled as either Mr. or Mrs. MacKenzie's study, as both of their degrees hung on the walls and the desk housed a laptop docking station.

"How was the drive?" Cora asked.

"How's your science grade?" Derek replied.

"I'm going," Cora grumbled, and stomped down the stairs.

Derek followed at a more sedate pace, heading for the front door. 

"You sound like a herd of elephants," Marissa told Cora as she entered the kitchen.

Derek took a couple of trips between his car and the guest room, bringing up his suitcase and the bags; he had also brought Cora's larger presents with him, the ones that would be harder to pack in his car with Cora's things in it as well. He placed these with the other presents under the tree. He'd saved the more easily packed items for Pack Christmas.

He noticed that there were a couple with his name on them, and his jaw dropped. He looked around, taking in the room, and was glad he'd put the case of breakables down before he had. The stockings were handmade, likely at Cora's part time job. One had Derek's name on it.

What was his baby sister planning exactly?

He heard a squeal of laughter from the kitchen.

"Your brother's hot," Marissa commented, in a voice that most normal humans wouldn't hear.

"Ew," Cora said. 

Derek entered the kitchen where Marissa was packing up her books and Cora's was closed.

"You're jailbait," Derek threw back without thinking. "Also, that has nothing to do with science."

Marissa blushed crimson. "We were done. Um, it was nice meeting you, Derek."

Derek grunted.

Cora poked him.

"It was nice meeting you too."

Marissa turned to Cora. "OK, you clear on what you need to get done before you're back in town?"

"Yes, Nana, sheesh," Cora teased.

Marissa shoved her playfully. "Just keeping you on your toes."

A smile threatened to tug at Derek's lips.

Marissa shouldered her bag and left.

Cora folded her arms, nose crinkled, eyebrows drawn. "Derek, we need to work on your manners."

"What?" he asked. "Oh, crap, she doesn't know that either of us is a werewolf and didn't realize I'd hear?" Derek shook his head. "She still shouldn't be hanging out with 25 year olds she's not related to."

Cora frowned at him, and had a feeling that she was going to start lecturing him about psychology. "There were nicer ways to let her down you know."

"Sometimes people respond better to absolute shut downs," Derek said.

Cora glared at him. "You're emotionally constipated, you know that?"

"You sound like Scott," Derek said.

"He's your Alpha now, you should listen to him. Has he suggested therapy? You should..." Cora dissolved into giggles, because Derek was tickling her sides. "Derek," she shrieked, squirming away. "Knock it off."

"What's going on?" asked a semi-gruff voice from the doorway to the kitchen.

Derek dropped his hands. "Mr. Mackenzie."

"Hey, Pops, Derek's just being annoying, I can handle him." Cora's smile was exaggerated, and there was an extra note of happiness in her voice.

"For heaven's sake, Derek, call me Clint," Cora's adoptive father said. "We're practically family after all."

Derek smiled tentatively. "Thanks, Clint."

Derek's first visit to Cora's home had been filled with suspicion, glares, and raised voices. Of course, Cora had been gone for four months without telling her parents where she'd been. He'd been asked several times why the hell he hadn't asked where she had lived after the fire. Being invited up for Christmas before he took Cora down to Beacon Hills to visit with her friends there was a huge step.

"You're here earlier than expected," Clint said.

"I made better time than I thought," Derek replied. "I guess the big crowds are leaving after work today."

Cora had finished clearing away her school books and was about to leave the room with her backpack.

"So, Cora, you all set for the group project?" Clint asked.

"Yup," she said.

"How about you and I show off our cooking prowess with that Coq Au Vin recipe you found the other week?"

"Yeah, let me just get rid of my books."

"I'll follow you, I might have a good secret ingredient," Derek said.

* * *

Clint's jaw dropped and his eyes widened when he saw the two bottles of Beacon Hills Bagataway Winery. "These look great, thanks, Derek. I don't think we want to waste them on the chicken."

"You just want to get rid of the last of the Two Buck Chuck that Uncle Clyde brought for Thanksgiving so that he doesn't give you grief about not using it," Cora said.

Clint ruffled her hair. "Trust me, it's better for cooking than for drinking."

"I believe you Pops," Cora said.

"You've never tasted it, have you Cora?" Clint's eyes narrowed.

Cora wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue. "No." Her heart rate was steady. "I can't stand the smell of alcohol, the only reason I put up with it on the chicken is that the alcohol cooks off."

"Given that time you got into the medicine cabinet, that doesn't surprise me," Derek said.

"Wait, what?" Clint asked.

Cora looked at Derek blankly.

"Well, you were only three at the time," Derek said. "There'd been a cold going around school, or maybe day care, it's hard to know-- our cousins lived with us too, and I swear, between the nine of us, germ cesspool. Anyway, Mom had run out for... something, and Laura was mostly better, but I think we were all watching TV and dozed off. Next thing we know, there's this crash from upstairs. You had knocked something off the counter while tripping over your step stool. Having drank all the cough syrup.

"The poison control center told Laura to induce vomiting, so Laura did, and you were just a miserable little thing and couldn't keep anything down for a whole day," Derek said. "That stuff's what, 90% alcohol or something? No wonder you want nothing to do with it."

Clint chuckled. "I'll have to remind you to tell that one at dinner."

"Pics or it didn't happen," Cora said.

"Careful, I may not have your talent, but I can draw, you know," Derek said.

Cora rolled her eyes, and started pulling ingredients out of the cupboards for dinner.

* * *

Derek was helping Cora set the table when her adoptive mother got home.

"I'm sorry for the short notice, I could've sworn that we'd asked Cora to invite you before," she said to Derek after kissing Clint and hugging Cora.

"It's no problem, Mrs. MacKenzie--"

"Cynthia, please, for heaven's sake!"

"Sorry, Cynthia," Derek said. "I think Melissa McCall was kind of relieved to have one fewer. Their Orphan's Christmas was getting a bit crowded."

Besides Jackson, someone had realized that Aiden and Ethan had nowhere to go and then Melissa felt she had to invite them.

Derek rather felt they could be on their own, but Scott was Alpha now and he'd insisted.

Derek accepted the silverware from Cora's hands, and nearly flinched. She looked like Laura when she'd scored her first big break at work and come home with a giant turkey that the two of them had plowed through in fifteen minutes flat. They hadn't been eating well.

This made him wonder what Cora was up to.

"You okay?" Cora asked.

"Yeah," Derek said, softly, not really comfortable talking about Laura in front of Cora's adoptive parents.

"Did you find all your textbooks for those classes you're taking?" Cora asked as she pulled bowls out of the cupboards. "I can't believe that professor assigned things that weren't available to order online through the bookstore."

"Most of them," Derek replied, setting the silverware next to the plates. "I had to get the Perrault translation off of Ebay. I'm trying to decide whether to sell it again after or tuck it away on the basis that someone in the pack is going to end up needing it."

"If you keep it, no one will need it," Cora said, setting out the bowls. "If you sell it, Stiles will decide to major in folklore and ancient languages just to spite his father, and then he'll be begging you for all the old texts he can get his hands on."

Derek snorted. "He does that already. He has the Hale family bestiary going back ten generations and the Argent one going back to the sixteen hundreds, I think? And also Deaton's entire library and it's still not enough for the kid."

"Watcher junior," Cora added.

Derek wrinkled his nose. What was she talking about?

"The chicken's ready," Clint said, turning off the heat and covering the sauce pan. "How's the rice look?"

"Like it's going to go crunchy; seriously, Pops, did you add enough water?" Cora asked. She reached for a measuring cup, adding a little bit, slowly. The pan hissed and steam rose out.

"Get used to crunchy rice," Derek said. "The dining halls were full of it in college and from what I hear, it's kind of universal."

Cora made a face. "The rice should be ready by the time we're done with salad."

Clint retrieved that and a couple bottles of salad dressing out of the refrigerator, asking for various preferences.

"So, Derek, you're taking classes?" Mrs. Mackenzie-- Cynthia-- asked as the four sat down at the table.

"Yes," he said. "Trying to finish up my degree and then... I'm not sure if I'm going to go for a teaching certificate or my Ph.D. Depends on whether I'd rather deal with angsty teenagers or angsty college students I guess."

"Have you mentioned this teaching thing to Stiles?" Cora asked. "I mean, he'd probably go on for an hour about how you'd scare the bejesus out of first graders."

"High school," Derek said. "Definitely no younger than high school."

"Imagine a class full of Marissas," Cora said.

Derek cocked his head at his little sister. "You got a better idea?"

"I just think you'd be better at terrorizing college students is all," Cora said. "Or rather, they'd be better able to handle you brooding them into compliance with their homework."

Derek glanced at Cora's parents, who were both smiling widely, Clint's shoulders were shaking.

"I don't terrorize people," Derek said.

"Ask Scott, or Stiles, or Isaac. Or Jackson for that matter."

"Jackson kind of deserved it," Derek said. "You never met him before the bite don't forget. Wait, you haven't met him at all. You've been talking to him?"

Cora shrugged. "If you would log onto your Facebook once in awhile, you'd know we have a super secret pack group on there."

Derek shook his head. "Please tell me it's called something else."

"Yes, but Stiles named it and you really don't want to know," Cora replied.

"Maybe we should bring Cora down to Beacon Hills for spring break," Clint said. "I'd like to meet all these people."

"Jackson won't be there, but I think they'd like that," Derek said.

He could hear Cora's heartbeat racing.

"Is Stiles safe from being shipped back to school with Jackson?" Cora asked. "I know his father was threatening."

"I suspect it depends on whether or not he realizes that we snuck Jackson back into the country for the break, but I think that's mostly been put to rest. For now. Until..." He trailed off, not wanting Clint and Cynthia to have second thoughts about letting him take Cora to Beacon Hills.

"I think I'm glad Cora's away from all that," Cynthia said.

"I'm not," Cora said, a little wistfully.

"No Omegas in the Pack," Derek said, firmly.

"You sound like Scott."

"He is the Alpha," Derek said.

"I hope you two are going to get all the werewolf talk out of your systems tonight," Cynthia said. "My sister will... I have no idea what she'll do. Either try to get the pastor out or exorcise the two of you. I'd prefer not to find out."

"Exorcism is for demons," Derek said. "But believe me, when people don't know, I know how to be discreet."

"You're not allowed to brood in the corner," Cora said.

"Who said anything about brooding?" Derek threw back.

"For you, discreet is brooding in the corner."

"I will not brood. Promise."

"I'll hold you to that," Cora said primly.

Derek had the distinct feeling that he'd just walked into that.

* * *

The next day was a flurry of activity. Derek tried to help, but kept getting banished to the living room. The kitchen was really only big enough for two people to work comfortably. Three was a squeeze, and once the bulk of the prep on the meat was done, Cora was banished with him. She flopped unceremoniously down next to him, snuggling into the crook of his arm. Derek moved it around her, setting down his book.

"You can keep reading." Cora yawned. "I'm just going to take a nap."

"If this is Christmas Eve, what happens Christmas Day?" Derek asks.

"Presents," Cora said. "And leftovers. Or more likely Chinese takeout as I think Nana forgot that Brian and Adrian are now teenage boys and will eat nearly as much as you and I do."

Derek snorted. "Let's be glad they want to come down to Beacon Hills for spring break then. She would not be prepared for Scott and Isaac _and_ Jackson."

Cora giggled. "How's Isaac doing? He barely talks to me."

"Me too," Derek said. "He was part of the forcible Christmas decorating the other day, though, so I think things are getting better. Trying to catch that kid alone is like getting Stiles to shut up."

"Getting Isaac to talk is like getting Stiles to shut up."

Derek snorted.

"Seriously, Derek, I know you want to talk about it about as much as he does, but I really think you two need to clear the air," Cora said.

"Mrs. McCall is adopting him," Derek said.

"He still needs you," Cora said. "Sheriff Stillinski has his hands full. How Isaac doesn't hate me after..."

"Cora, that wasn't your fault."

"That's not what you told him."

Derek glared at her.

"I think he was extra nice to me hoping that it would make you magically change your mind," Cora said. "This wasn't the first place I landed, Derek. I know what it feels like. No matter the reason, no matter how many times and in how many ways you're told what happened, and why it happened, you still keep trying to figure out what you did wrong."

"Like?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Now who's being emotionally constipated."

"I talked it through with my therapist, and I have you and Nana and Pops now, and our whole crazy, mixed up, thoroughly insane family, many of whom you are about to meet. I haven't seen Troy in a while, but rumor has it he wears nothing but red now unless he's practicing karate. I mean, who does that?"

"Stiles."

"He has a favorite hoodie. Troy has a closet full of red clothes. There's a difference."

Derek's phone buzzed. He grabbed it.

"Hey, Jackson, what's up?" he asked.

"My parents are in Paris," Jackson said. His voice was soft, and Derek couldn't help but wonder why in the name of all that was good that he was getting this call instead of Lydia.

"Are they expecting you there?" Derek asked, nose wrinkling.

"No."

"Going to London?" Derek asked.

"No," Jackson said. Derek could hear Jackson's heart going double time through the phone. 

Cora was frowning too. She'd pulled out her phone and was firing off a furious text to Lydia. Good. Lydia could deal with Jackson better than Derek could.

"I can beat them up when they get back?" Derek offered, not sure what else to do for him over the phone. "Alternately, it's only a four hour drive, I could..."

"No, you stay with your sister, I just..." Jackson trailed off. "I don't even know why I called, and Danny's on the other line."

"Don't make too much of a mess of my place while I'm gone," Derek said.

"Don't worry," Jackson said. "Scott and Stiles and Danny keep showing up. Jeez, Danny, just 'cause I'm not picking up the first time doesn't mean you hang up and call again right away. I'd better pick that up before he has kittens or something."

"Call if you need me."

"Right Mr. Second sir," Jackson said. The line clicked off.

"Mr. Second sir?" Cora asked, bursting out laughing.

"I break Stiles of the habit and then Jackson picks it up, it's really rather annoying."

"I still think they should call you Clay," Cora said.

"I blend in way better than that! Also, those Kelley Armstrong books are ridiculous, and by the way, you're too young to be reading them."

"Says the guy who let me watch Halloween when I was seven," Cora said.

"Laura decided it was easier to let you learn your lesson than fight with you," Derek said. "Of course, she wasn't the one who had her bed invaded for the next month."

"Bed invaded?" Clint said, coming and sitting in one of the chairs.

Cora checked her watch. "Wow, I think one o'clock is a new record. Nana better not start claiming no one helped her this year."

"Laura and I made the mistake of watching Halloween with Cora in the room when she was seven, and she had nightmares for a month," Derek explained. "I don't know how Laura bought her silence, but somehow Cora ended up sleeping in my bed after she had nightmares. I still don't get why Laura didn't have nightmare duty sometimes."

"She was a kicker," Cora said.

"And how, but you have a habit of pinning people so they can't move without waking you up."

Cora shrugged. "I don't like sitting still, even when I'm sleeping."

"Or sick from lack of shifting," Derek pointed out.

"You weren't exactly objecting."

Clint's eyebrows shot up, the smell of anger in the room rose.

"Really?" Derek growled. "I'm her brother. What was going to happen?"

Cora grabbed a pillow and tossed it at her adoptive father. "Pops, seriously, he just _looks_ scary. We've been through this."

"Cora."

Cora rolled her eyes. "It's a werewolf thing, Pops. Real wolves..."

"...do not have blankets."

"You and Nana hardly let me go for two weeks after I was just gone for four months, Derek hadn't seen me in six years and thought I was dead. And I was sick. And I wanted him close, not all the way over on the couch."

Derek frowned, wrapping up his anger and channeling it into keeping himself in human form. How dare Clint accuse him of hurting Cora!

Cora poked him. "No brooding."

"I'm not brooding."

"No frowning either," Cora said, going for his sides.

Derek grabbed her around the middle and stood up, Cora slid precariously, and Derek adjusted his grip as she shrieked.

Clint looked at him, his face frowning. Derek gently put Cora on her feet, looking abashed.

"I used to do that to her when she was smaller," Clint said. "Then she got too big."

"Werewolf strength has its advantages," Derek said, not realizing that he'd even been using it. He'd have to be careful around the rest of the family later that evening: manhandling his little sister came naturally, and his added strength easily compensated for her added size.

"I suppose it does," Clint said, softly.

Cora slipped away from Derek, hugging her adoptive father. "I love you, Pops."

"You ran away from me."

"I didn't mean to be gone so long," Cora said.

"You could've called, when you got out of the vault," Clint said, still quiet. He tucked a stray strand of hair behind Cora's ear.

"I was going to call about this time," Cora said. "I originally planned to stay three months, then come back in time for school, but then there was the vault and then Derek needed me."

"Derek is a grown man and you're a teenage girl, and you're still our daughter, even if..."

Derek stood up.

"Don't even think about it Derek," Clint said angrily.

"Sorry, I thought it was a private conversation," Derek sat back down. Did Clint not get the part where Cora had lied to Derek? Cora had said no one would come looking. The plan was to do things legally once the Alpha Pack had been dealt with. At least until the school had finally managed to get ahold of Cora's records from her old school with her legal guardians' names on them and a flag that she was listed as a missing person.

Derek had kind of wondered at the time why Cora seemed to reluctant to enroll, but he'd chalked it up to being a teenage girl wanting to skive off, and exhaustion from the lack of moonlight.

Not deviousness. Then again, Cora did come by it honestly.

"Cora, you can't just go running off because we had a fight," Clint said.

Cora shifted, and Derek raised an eyebrow. He and Cora had had a long conversation on the way up to Mariner Bay once he found out that she had adoptive parents looking for her. Cora having a fight with Clint and Cynthia had not entered into it.

"That's not..."

"Then why not leave us a note?" Clint said. "Hell, Cora, if you'd told me that you thought you had family still alive in Beacon Hills, I'd have driven you there myself. Things might have been very different if you hadn't taken that bus."

Yeah, she'd have gotten out of the vault and had to find out that her adoptive father was dead, but Derek didn't feel like pointing that out.

"The Alpha Pack would've probably just killed you." Cora stared at her shoes, shifting back to human form.

"Yes, and that really makes me feel better about your going back to Beacon Hills for the holidays," Clint said sarcastically.

"I could get killed staying at home and crossing the street. Have you seen the way that people drive around here?" Cora asked. "You can't wrap me up in cotton wool for the rest of my life."

"I can try."

Derek snorted. "Good luck with that."

Cora looked at him.

"You got the Hale family stubbornness," he said. "I couldn't get you to take easy after you'd been deprived of moonlight for three months, getting you to stay in a plastic bubble with extra padding isn't going to turn out very well for anyone."

Clint looked at him. "I wish you wouldn't encourage her, not after that stunt she pulled last summer."

"You should've heard the lecture I got in the car on the way up here when Derek brought me back." Cora wrinkled her nose, eyes unblinking.

"You have friends here, a life, I was supposed to let you give that all up? Not that you gave me a choice, since you said you were running away from foster care," Derek scolded.

"I still don't get why you didn't feel the need to get in touch with her social worker," Clint said. "There is a way..."

"Alpha Pack," Derek said. "I had a territory and a pack of teenagers to protect. I didn't want to deal with a pile of state related bureaucratic nonsense. I'd have done that the day after I got the call from the school otherwise. If Cora had told me there was someone who'd miss her, I'd have called you myself if I had to."

"You'd have put me on a bus right back to Mariner Bay with everything going on in Beacon Hills if I'd told you the truth."

"Don't be silly," Derek said. "I'd have driven you up here. With Isaac and Boyd for back-up. No way was I putting you on a bus by yourself."

"What would Scott and Stiles have done by themselves?" Cora crossed her arms.

"Improvised, they're big on that." Derek shrugged.

"You're kind of a crappy Alpha," Cora said.

"It's a good thing I have Scott now, huh?" Derek shot back.

Clint cleared his throat.

"Pops, you _have_ to let me go back to Beacon Hills," Cora said. "Someone needs to make sure that Derek doesn't make a whole mess of his pack."

"Isn't that what Scott's for now?" Clint asked.

"Scott's a newbie," Cora said. "He makes it up as he goes along. He needs to be able to reign in Derek when he needs information."

Derek rolled his eyes. Why was it that even his baby sister thought he needed to be managed like a difficult coworker?

"Cora, it's not your job."

"It's my _pack_ , Pops, why can't you understand that?"

Clint stood, glaring down at her. Derek's muscles tightened. He wouldn't hesitate to take Cora out of there and straight to the nearest police station if he so much as struck her. So far all Clint did was glare.

Cora's heart rate sped up, and as she spoke, the volume of her voice kept rising and falling, starting to yell and then catching herself. "Pops, I love you and Nana, but Derek's my family too. And that makes his pack my family. It's hard being alone here, no pack. Before I knew that Derek was alive, I was an Omega, a lone wolf. Omegas don't tend to survive for very long. The only reason I made it this long was because I lived far away from any werewolves and I stayed off their radar, so to speak. The minute the Alpha Pack scented me as a Hale, I was in danger. If I'd have come home, if Derek had brought me home before we sent them packing, they would've been right up here after a vulnerable member of the pack."

"Then why would Derek have brought you home?"

"I told you, he's an idiot who needs someone to keep him in line," Cora said.

"Hey!" Derek said.

"It's true. Wouldn't the Alpha Pack have come after me here? If they weren't really in Beacon Hills for Scott, I mean?"

Derek sighed. "Yes."

"That's the other reason that Derek couldn't look too closely at my caseworker situation," Cora said. "If they'd taken me away for awhile, I would've been in grave danger."

"Cora..." Clint said.

"Cora!" Cynthia called from the kitchen. "I could use a sous chef for a few minutes."

"Excuse me," Cora said, stalking off.

Leaving Derek and Clint in an awkward silence.

Derek took a deep breath. "Look, I know I wasn't exactly part of the package when you signed up, but Cora's my baby sister. I want to be a part of her life. She wants me to be a part of her life, but she loves you, she wants you to be a part of her life too. I was thrilled when you invited me up here, because then she could have all of us for Christmas. I didn't mean to open up any old wounds."

Clint stared. "Cora swears you're emotionally constipated."

"She seems to have a bit of a laxative effect on me." Derek smirked.

"I don't know what I'd do if I lost her," Clint said.

"I don't know what I'd do if I lost her _again_ ," Derek replied.

Clint picked up the newspaper, and Derek returned to his book, but at least the silence wasn't so awkward.

* * *

Derek tried not to wince as the doorbell rang. His heartbeat must have given him away, though as Cora patted him on the shoulder.

"They'll love you," Cora said. "Pops does too, he's just jealous."

Derek somehow doubted that Clint would ever love him, but he'd settle for liking instead of tolerating. He'd also settle for not hating him where the rest of Cora's relatives were concerned. Derek had low standards for social interaction as a whole. It was just pack that he really worried about.

And yet he could never bring himself to talk to Isaac.

The next couple hours passed in a whirlwind of introductions, hugs, and catching up. Derek was greeted warmly and mostly ignored. (Except for Cora, who kept trying to drag him into conversations with her cousins, who were mostly talking about high school and looking for colleges.)

"Just wait 'til you see the FAFSA forms, Cora, they're a bitch," one of the boys-- Derek thought that Cora had said his name was Brian.

"She probably won't need much," Derek said, conversationally. "You should see her college fund."

"What?"

"Laura and I made some really good investments with the insurance money from the house and Mom and Dad's life insurance," Derek said. "And it's not like Laura's going to need any of it."

Clint stared. "We weren't told about any of those things when we adopted Cora."

"Laura and I were told Cora was dead," Derek pointed out. "The system screwed up somewhere. It would've been split three ways had we known."

Cora shrugged. "I probably wouldn't be here."

"Hard to know. Laura and I wouldn't have run away to New York at any rate."

"Does that mean Cora's rich now?" Mona, the seven year old with her name embroidered onto her sweater asked.

"It means Cora shouldn't have to take out any student loans," Derek said.

"No way there's enough for law school," Cora said.

"Depends on how much you pay for undergraduate tuition," Derek said.

Cora stared.

"We had a three family house and only three people to collect on it," Derek said, "even with Peter's care. Plus Mom and Dad had pretty good life insurance policies."

Cora just got up and hugged him.

Derek flushed. "What? Mom would come back and haunt me if I didn't."

Cora just kissed his cheek.

"What do you do, Derek? With all that insurance money I wouldn't think you'd need to work?" Cora's Aunt... something asked.

"I took a year off after Laura died, but I'm going back to finish my English degree," Derek said.

***

"Come on, Pops, just one," Cora pleaded after the family had left for the evening and the dishes were done.

"Cora you know the rules, no presents until Christmas morning," Clint insisted.

"Derek, back me up here," Cora pleaded.

"Different families have different traditions, squirt," Derek said, pulling back the smile that tugged at his lips.

Cora had sounded just like when she was six and had wanted to open a second present on Christmas Eve. The kid was irrepressible.

"So you really were allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve?" Cynthia asked.

Cora glared. "Do you really think I'd lie to you for four years?"

"Well, uh..." Cynthia glanced at Derek uncomfortably.

"She would usually try to argue Mom into opening a second one, so I can see why you'd be suspicious," Derek said, this time letting the smile tug at the corner of his mouth.

"I... Ok, I totally used to give Mom a rough time, but I wouldn't _lie_ ," Cora pointed out.

"Your track record with me isn't the best lately," Derek said.

"It was a little white lie," Cora said.

"We're lucky that I didn't get arrested," Derek said.

"No one would have pressed..."

"Did you forget the part where Sheriff Stillinski hates me?" Derek asked.

"I thought that he was over the whole getting Stiles put in danger all the time thing?" Cora said.

"Oh, no, he hated me well before he knew about that," Derek replied.

Cora sighed.

"There's one for all three of you I have that you might want to open now, though," Derek said. "If that's all right with Clint and Cynthia that is."

Cora's new parents exchanged glances.

Cora turned to Clint with puppy dog eyes. The same ones that had once convinced teenage Derek to don a feather boa and tiara. "Please, Pops?"

Clint glanced at Cynthia. 

"I have to admit to being kind of intrigued," Cynthia admitted.

Derek reached for a flat package under the tree and handed it to Cora. "Go for it, kiddo."

"I'm not a kid," she replied.

"Cora, manners," Cynthia scolded.

"Thank you, Derek," Cora said, accepting the package.

"You still have to guess what it is," Clint teased gently.

Derek was glad that he'd done something slightly sneaky. Actually, now he kind of wished he hadn't, it would've confused the heck out of her.

Cora felt the package, smelled it, which elicited giggles from Cynthia.

"Nana!"

"Sorry. It makes more sense now, but it's still funny," Cynthia said.

Cora frowned. "Feels like a book, but there's plastic too. Some kind of photo frame? Pictures of Beacon Hills maybe?"

Derek grinned. "Am I supposed to tell?"

"Nope," Cora said, gingerly tearing into the wrapping paper.

Her jaw dropped at the sight of the book, entitled "Cora Hale: The Early Years." She looked up at Derek. "How?"

"Mom kept negatives and CDs of the digitals in the fire safe. I got the negatives digitized for Laura one year."

"This is so going on the coffee table," Cynthia said, plopping down next to Cora on the couch.

"Nana!"

"Don't worry. I didn't put any of the embarrassing ones in there," Derek said.

"Any chance we could get copies..." Cynthia started.

"Nana!" Cora said scandalously as Clint sat on her other side.

"I burned a couple of DVD-ROMSs worth, they're tucked in the back," Derek said.

Cora sighed, but opened the book.

Derek moved to the back of the couch so he could see over her shoulder.

"Laura took that one the day you were born," Derek said, pointing at the picture of a swaddled Cora in their mother's arms, their father encompassing them both in a hug.

Cora reached out, touching the picture longingly. Derek laid a hand on her shoulder.

"We can look at these later if you want, sweetie," Clint offered.

"No," Cora said quietly. "I want to look now." She turned the page, this one was split.

"Nice hair, Derek," Cora said, indicating the picture of Derek tucked into a hospital chair with swaddled baby Cora tucked carefully in his arms. Derek remembered how nervous he was, carefully keeping a hand behind Cora's head at all times, afraid he would somehow hurt the tiny being entrusted to his care.

"Is that Laura?" Cynthia asked.

"Who took that picture? If it were Dad I think Laura's head would be cut off," Cora said.

"Mom was in labor for seven hours, they were both bushed," Derek said. "I think it was Aunt Sarah. I honestly was so anxious for my chance to hold you and then trying so hard to hold you properly that I don't remember."

"You have to have held Sammy," Cora said.

"Aunt Sarah wouldn't let me until he was two weeks old," Derek said. "You were the first newborn I got to hold. Also, Sammy? Not my baby sister." He ruffled her hair.

Cora blushed, turning the pages. "I thought there weren't any embarrassing pictures in here?"

The picture was of Cora, a large wooden spoon in her hand, completely covered in spaghetti sauce.

"It's so cute!" Marissa exclaimed.

"Lydia thought it would be OK," Derek said.

"You showed my pictures to the whole pack?" Cora asked, back stiffening.

"Just Lydia," Derek said. "I wanted a second opinion on the design. I swore her to secrecy."

"Ok," Cora said. She didn't know Lydia well, but she knew Lydia could be trusted not to show things to the rest of the pack.

She turned the page, to find a picture of her snuggled between Derek and Laura in an overstuffed bean bag chair; all three of them were sound asleep.

"Didn't that happen the first time you showed me Star Wars?" Cora asked. "I think we tried to marathon it, and I fell asleep during the Empire Strikes Back before they even left Hoth."

"Yeah," Derek said. "Uncle Peter had run us all ragged from training, we were beat. Honestly, I'm amazed you didn't fall asleep during A New Hope."

"Because it was awesome, I just couldn't stay awake anymore afterwards."

"I think we rotated through those three movies for a month."

Clint chuckled. "I think she wore out the DVDs I had."

"And you had an excuse to buy the ones with the theatrical versions, so I don't know what you're complaining about," Cora replied primly.

Derek couldn't help but think that Clint would get along pretty well with Stiles.

Cynthia turned the page, presumably to end the argument. She promptly burst out laughing.

"Who took that?" Cora asked. "I could've sworn we were the only ones home."

"It's even better than in Cora's picture," Clint said. "I should show you."

"I already shipped that one to him with the Christmas tree stuff," Cynthia said.

"Nana!" Cora elbowed her.

"I thought Derek should see some of your art," Cynthia said.

"He didn't need the inaccurate picture from therapy with him as an angel," Cora said.

"I kinda did," Derek said, quietly. He kissed the top of her forehead.

"I got some of the stuffed animals wrong," Cora mused. "Of course, I don't remember anyone taking our picture either."

"Ray snuck in from soccer when we weren't looking. I don't know whose camera he stole," Derek said. "He was using it as blackmail material for weeks."

Cora turned around to look up at him. "Really?"

"He kept threatening to put it up in his locker unless I did his chores."

"I don't remember Ray being a bully."

"He had four AP classes and if you thought Coach Finstock is crazy, you should've seen Coach Brooks with soccer," Derek said. "He was just busy and too proud to ask for help."

Cora chuckled. "OK, now _that_ sounds like him." She sighed wistfully.

"I just wish I'd known it was in the box, you should've heard Isaac, Scott, Stiles and Jackson when they saw it."

Cora giggled. "OK, that would've been cool. We should show it to Lydia and Allison at Pack Christmas."

"Maybe we should come down to pick Cora up, I'd like to meet all your friends," Cynthia said. "Besides, Derek drove all the way up here once, maybe we should split all the driving."

"Nana..."

"We could take your friends to lunch."

Derek saw a hint of a blush creeping up on Cora's neck.

"Everyone else has parents too, Cora," Derek said, quietly. "And Stiles's dad is the Sheriff. I doubt Clint and Cynthia could top that."

Derek's phone beeped. He flipped it open. "If you're really OK with picking Cora up, I just got asked to pick up a shift on the 31st."

"Wait, you're working?"

"Part time package sorting for UPS," Derek said. "I had to call in a ton of favors in order to be able to leave early, I owe this guy one, and they're having someone retire and asked me to stay on, so if I could take this I really should."

"It's settled then," Cynthia said.

Cora sighed. "I'll stick up a Facebook invite."

"Oh, the horror," Derek said.

"Do I have to invite Ethan and Aiden?" Cora asked.

"Are you inviting Lydia?"

"Yeah," Cora said. "Maybe Danny."

"If you're inviting both of them, then yes, you really should," Derek said.

Cora sighed.

"I know," Derek said. "Ask Scott what he thinks if you want, but he'll tell you the same thing."

"I should give them more credit, they kept sneaking us extra food," Cora said. "But they could've broken us out and didn't."

"They nearly killed Isaac, he's over it."

"Isaac has issues," Cora said, pointedly.

Derek didn't have a response for that.

Cynthia yawned.

"Maybe we should look at the rest of the book in the morning, it's time to for Nana to go into her nightly Ambien coma."

Cynthia elbowed Cora, who just laughed.

Derek kissed her on top of the head. "Mom would want you to..."

"Give her a rough time. Remember Aunt Sarah and the Vicodin when she shattered her collarbone?"

Derek laughed. "Yeah. Jeez, that one was nasty. Of course, it didn't help that it was from Mom tackling her on a full moon, so it took twice as long to heal."

Cynthia got up and gave Derek a peck on the cheek. "Thank you for the pictures, it means a lot to have things from when Cora was younger."

Heat rose in Derek's neck. "You're welcome."

Clint reached out and shook Derek's hand, then changed his mind and pulled Derek into a hug, patting him roughly on the back. "Thank you."

Cora looked up at Derek, and he could see that her eyes were a little misty. He didn't say anything, just drew her to him and kissed her on top of the head again.

"Good night," Cora said.

"'night, squirt."

* * * 

"No! Let me go!" Cora's voice startled Derek out of a dream.

He bolted out of bed and flung the door open, to find Cora thrashing in her bed. "Let go of me!"

Nightmare. Derek's heart rate slowed, and he approached the bed. "Cora, wake up."

She started awake and bolted into his arms.

Clint rushed in. "Cora are you all right?"

Derek swallowed, trying not to let his heart rate jump.

"Nightmare, Pops, about the Alpha Pack again."

Derek kissed the top of her head. "It's OK. They can't hurt you anymore." He started to release her, but she pulled him back to her. 

The bed sank next to them and Cora looked up, as if she had forgotten that Clint was in the room after she'd acknowledged his question. Cora pulled away from Derek slowly, then grabbed Clint in a tight hug.

"It's okay, baby, you're safe now. You've got me and Derek to chase them off if they show up again."

"Pops, seriously, if you ever see a werewolf coming, run," Cora said. "Just run." She squeezed him tighter, leaning her head over Clint's shoulder.

She looked at Derek, her eyes drawn tight. Fear was gently wafting towards him.

"Let's get these covers fixed, huh?" Clint suggested when Cora finally pulled away. He tucked Cora back in, smoothing her hair and kissing her forehead.

"Nana's still Ambiened out, huh?" Cora asked.

"Like a light," Clint said. "Do you want me sit with you."

"I'm not a baby, Pops," Cora replied.

"Sweet dreams this time, sweetheart," Clint said.

"I'll be right next door if you need me." Derek kissed her on the forehead.

"Not. A. Baby," Cora repeated.

Derek chuckled. "You're always going to be the baby sister who made me dress up in a feather boa and tiara for stuffed animal tea parties to me."

"Pix or it didn't happen," Cora replied.

"I already gave you one, remember?" Derek asked.

Cora rolled her eyes before closing them. Derek closed the door behind him.

* * *

The next day passed in a flurry of wrapping paper and food (and meeting the other side of Cora's adoptive family). The day after Christmas, Derek and Cora loaded up his car.

Cynthia hugged Cora tightly. "Be good, dear. Mind your brother."

Derek smirked.

Clint hugged her tightly. "Be _careful_."

Derek jumped when Cynthia hugged him. "Take good care of my little girl."

Derek reluctantly wrapped his arms around her in return. "Don't worry, I will."

"I am not a little girl," Cora insisted.

Cynthia hugged her again. "You'll always be my little girl, even if you have one of your own some day. We'll see you in a few days."

Clint shook his hand. "Take care, Derek, see you soon."

"Thanks so much for having me," Derek said.

"You're Cora's family, that means you're our family too," Clint said.

Derek broke a smile. He couldn't help it. If Cora's adoptive parents considered him family, then they would never keep him from Cora. "Thank you."

Cynthia gave Cora another hug.

Clint gently pried them apart. "You two should get going or you won't get back to Beacon Hills before dark. We'll see you in a few days." He gave Cora one last kiss on the head. "Stay out of trouble."

"I will," Cora said.

"The worst trouble she can get into in Beacon Hills is going clubbing, and the only club that's loose enough on its carding policies to let kids in is really strict on their alcohol policies," Derek said. "Seen lots of kids sneak in to dance, most of them don't manage to get anything out of the bartender that actually has alcohol in it."

"Strangely, not the kind of trouble I'm worried about," Clint said. "Drive safe."

"Don't worry," Derek said, "werewolf reflexes."

Cora chuckled. "And you need them." She opened the car door and got in, buckling her seat belt.

"Thanks, squirt, we just got them to trust me with you," Derek said, teasingly, buckling up and checking his mirrors.

Cora turned around and waved at her other parents out the back window as they drove off.

* * *

They got home to find Danny and Jackson trying to make all of Jackson's things fit in an unobtrusive corner of the living room.

"Hey," Jackson said. "I put clean sheets on the bed upstairs. Thanks for letting me use your room the last week."

Derek's jaw dropped. "Who are you and what have you done with Jackson Whittemore?".

"Why do you keep asking me that?" Jackson asked.

"Because you were kind of an asshole before," Danny answered. "Also, hah! I knew Derek wasn't really Stiles's cousin."

Derek flushed. "Stiles is evil sometimes."

"I'm assuming that bit of hacking was for a good, wolfy cause," Danny said.

"He knows now?" Cora asked.

"Yeah, one of the main reasons I was so desperate to come home was so I could help Ethan tell him," Jackson said. "Thanks again, Derek. And wait, Danny, I was an asshole? And you put up with me?"

"Well, you were my asshole," Danny said. "Also, you threatened to beat up all comers who ever took a shot at me, so you know, you had your redeeming features."

"Heard any more from your folks?" Derek asked.

Jackson shook his head.

"Want me to give them a piece of my mind when they get back?" Derek offered. "Or scare the crap out of them?"

Jackson shrugged.

"I'm in on the plan for Ethan and Stiles to egg their house," Danny said.

"Stiles?" Derek repeated.

"I think Stiles just likes a good egging," Jackson said.

"I think Stiles just liked the way you walked into the twins' penthouse and threatened to end both of them if they hurt me or Lydia," Danny said.

"Speaking of your boyfriend..."

"He and Aiden went to Silver Hills for the day," Danny said. "I... I think that's where their parents are buried? The rest of their pack? I don't know, I get the feeling it's a grave site thing; he and Aiden were bonding over something like that when I showed up."

"How come Stiles was over there, anyway?" Cora asked.

"He, Lydia, and Aiden have an English study group going on," Derek said. "We keep trying to get Isaac to join, but, well, he's Isaac."

"You two thought about dinner yet?" Derek asked.

Danny raised an eyebrow, but Jackson just clapped him on the back. "See, dude, nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, but cousin _Miguel_?"

"Stiles," Derek said.

"I guess that would explain it," Danny said with a sigh. "Why do you guys keep him around?"

"Scott," the other three said in unison.

"Good point."

* * *

Jackson and Cora were out running, with the air mattress, linens, and Jackson's things neatly stacked out of the way when Isaac showed up in the morning.

"Scott said he'd be behind me, but where is everyone?" Isaac asked. He'd taken in the empty loft and his shoulders had tensed up, fear starting to mingle with his scent.

"Not getting here for another hour," Derek said. "Cora and Jackson went for a run."

"Oh."

"I'm getting some stuff ready in the kitchen. Join me?" Derek asked.

Isaac shifted from foot to foot, but nodded, squaring his shoulders, the smell of fear still simmering under the surface.

Derek started pulling out serving platters, cheeses, and various meats from the refrigerator.

Isaac had hopped onto one of the stools at the kitchen island and was watching him tentatively. Opening his mouth, then closing it again.

"What is it?" Derek asked, hoping he didn't sound gruff.

"I... it's..."

"Spit it out," Derek said, pulling out a knife for the cheese.

Isaac hopped down from the counter, fear rising off him in waves.

Derek put the knife down. "I was just going to cut the cheese."

Isaac smirked.

"Literally. You look like someone with a question."

Isaac hopped back on the counter, unwrapping the cheeses. "Melissa's adopting me."

"So Scott tells me." Derek wanted to put the cheese on the cutting board and start in, but he was afraid of spooking Isaac, and whatever roundabout thing he was trying to ask.

"I was hoping..." Isaac paused, absently picking up some of the wrappings from the food and crumpling them in a ball... "I was kind of hoping you'd tell me what I did wrong."

Derek blinked. "What you did wrong?"

Isaac stared at the food wrappers in his hands, turning them over and folding them like a fan. "You know, why you kicked me out? Just so I don't do it again."

Derek reached out, and Isaac flinched, heart jumping. It quieted when Derek took the food wrappers away.

"Isaac, look at me."

Isaac gulped, then looked up.

"You didn't do anything wrong. The Alpha Pack wanted me to kill my betas. Cora was family, they were going to come after her no matter what, but you were safer without me. I knew you would run to Scott, and I knew when Scott inevitably did something stupid and heroic, you'd text me. I needed to know you were safe. You were safer with Scott, and that way I'd have someone keeping an eye on him."

"You kicked me out in the rain."

"Werewolves don't get pneumonia, I promise," Derek said. "And if they'd been watching the loft or Scott's house and seen me drop you off, it wouldn't have worked."

"You threw a glass at me," Isaac said. "If you hadn't missed..."

"I don't miss, Isaac."

Isaac scoffed. "You hit the wall." 

"I was _aiming_ for the wall."

Isaac stared.

"I was trying to scare you into doing what I wanted, that's all," Derek said.

"You could've explained."

"It wouldn't have been as convincing."

"And if it hadn't been for the Alpha Pack?" Isaac asked. "Or they'd wanted something else?"

"You, Cora, and I would've been looking for a three bedroom apartment," Derek said.

Isaac stared. Then nodded. "You, um, want some help?"

"You promise not to freak out on me when I pick the knife back up?"

"You promise not to cut anything besides the cheese?" Isaac smiled tentatively. Then cocked his head. "What's that noise?" He paused. "Is someone on the stairs?"

"That would be Jackson and Cora, probably trying to eavesdrop without being heard and failing miserably." Derek's voice rose, so that he could be heard on the stairs for sure.

Isaac grinned, a little less tentative than before. Derek rolled his eyes. Cora and Jackson entered the loft slowly, both looking at the floor and refusing to make eye contact.

"Sorry, we thought we had given you enough time," Cora said.

"Derek spoke in whole paragraphs; I feel like I should mark the date or something," Isaac said, a smile tugging at his lips.

"There's a thermometer in the bathroom," Cora said, "I'll grab it." She went running up the stairs.

"What was that you keep saying about your not being a baby?" Derek asked. "I'm older than you."

Cora galumphed down the stairs, thermometer in hand.

"I can't believe Derek has one of those," Jackson said.

"I can't believe... mrrroh," the rest of what Derek was saying was garbled as Cora used the opportunity of his open mouth to pop the thermometer under his tongue.

"It's from when I had to take an ice bath to find Boyd and Erica," Isaac said, quietly.

Derek looked over at him, unsure what he could say or do with a thermometer in his mouth. Isaac just shrugged.

"You want first dibs on the shower, Cora?" Jackson asked.

"I think we should take Jackson's temperature," Isaac said to the plate of cheese, turning the knife over in his hands.

"By the time she finishes fussing with all her girly stuff the hot water will have recovered."

Cora smacked Jackson upside the head, and then bolted upstairs to get her clothes from her room.

She came back down, clothes in hand, just as the digital thermometer beeped.

Cora grabbed it out of Derek's mouth. "Normal. I guess you're just ready to join the real world and use your words."

Derek swatted at her halfheartedly, but Cora dodged, then zipped into the bathroom and shut the door.

Jackson flopped down on the floor.

Derek took the knife away from Isaac, and starting cutting the cheese into cubes.

"Need any help?" Isaac asked.

"I've got this bit. Scott and Stiles will be coming to finish setting up in a few minutes," Derek said. "I'm sure Stiles will put you to work." Derek's phone buzzed. "They're downstairs and want help unloading the car." He got up, and stretched a hand out to Jackson. "Come on, Whittemore. You might as well help while Cora's monopolizing the bathroom.

Jackson accepted Derek's hand and pulled himself up. "Just promise that you're not going to make me do some kind of ridiculous Pack initiation ritual."

"I think being turned into a killer reptile counts," Derek said.

Isaac adopted such an innocent look that Derek wanted to ask him what he was up to. Instead, he followed the teenagers down to Stiles's jeep.

* * *

"I think I may have to roll back to London," Jackson said flopping down on the floor once they had finished brunch.

Stiles and Scott must have estimated food based strictly on the werewolf metabolisms for even the human members of the Pack as there were leftovers, something that rarely happened at Pack meals.

Derek suspected some of the wolves must have been snacking before the meal too.

"We never did decide about presents, order or free for all?" Stiles asked as they settled onto couches and the floor.

Aiden got up, directing Isaac into his seat.

"Oh, yeah, there was a scuffle earlier," Derek glared at Jackson, then glanced at Scott, "and the presents got mixed up instead if being in piles for each person. We'll have to figure it out."

They had drawn names-- two each-- mostly in deference to teenage budgets, but there were a few extra presents there besides. Derek was responsible for most of them, but he knew that Jackson, Aiden, and Ethan had also been up to no good.

Stiles glanced at Scott, who was trying to avoid his best friend's eyes. "Only you would turn this into some kind of pack bonding exercise."

While Stiles was whining, Isaac had gotten up, picked up a present and handed it to Alison, "This one's for you. I think you have to open it before someone else can go." He winked.

Alison looked at the tag. "It's from Scott and Stiles."

Alison ripped into the paper, opening the gift box beneath to reveal a pair of archery gloves.

"You guys!" Alison said, beaming. "Thank you!"

She got up and hugged both of them, causing Scott to blush a bit. Derek glanced at Isaac, who just smiled and nodded at Cora.

Cora picked up another package off of the pile. "This one is for Aiden, Ethan, and Derek. Better move over there, big brother."

"I can see from here," Derek said.

"Derek," Scott said firmly, eyes drawn tight.

Derek suppressed a sigh and took the package from Cora, sniffing it suspiciously. Plastic.

He offered it to the Alpha twins. "Does one of you want to do the honors?"

Aiden took it and checked the tag. "It says it's from the pack."

Ethan reached out, neatly cutting the ribbon with a single claw, and then Aiden delicately unwrapped the wrapping paper, folded it neatly and set it on the arm of the couch.

"Just how old are you two?" Lydia teased. "I've only ever seen my grandmother do that."

"We were raised by our grandparents," Ethan replied with a shrug. He handed the box to Derek. "You finish up, seems fair."

Derek resisted the urge to roll his eyes, until he opened the box. Then he did roll his eyes, and showed the contents to the twins.

"A plastic shovel and a toy ax?" Aiden asked. "I don't get it."

Ethan ruffled his brother's hair. "It's a hatchet. We're supposed to bury it, dingbat." 

"Hey, Scott, if you decide to bite anyone else, make sure they have a sense of subtlety," Ethan said, "this Pack is sorely lacking."

Derek frowned, brow crinkling.

"What?" Aiden asked.

"That's what Boyd brought to the mix," Derek said quietly.

Ethan scrubbed a hand through his hair. Aiden sighed.

"There's nothing we can say to fix that," Ethan said, quietly, his voice heavy.

"Or Erica," Aiden added. "But I'm sorry."

"Me too," Ethan said.

Derek nodded. "I know." He could feel Scott's eyes on the back of his head. Derek reached out a hand.

Aiden took it, shaking it tentatively, then dropping it.

Ethan reached out, and Derek shook his hand as well. It wasn't catharsis or a big gesture, but the rest of the pack was smiling.

Derek glanced back at Isaac, who was sifting through the presents.

"Digging your own stuff out is cheating," Lydia chided. "Wait your turn to open something."

Isaac picked up a particular package that squished a bit in his hand. He didn't look at the tag, just handed it silently to Jackson with what could only be described as a shit eating grin on his face.

Jackson did look at the tag. "Is it cheating for Isaac to go looking for something he gave me to open?"

"I think we'll allow it this once," Scott said. He kept starting to smile and then stopping again.

Derek suspected there was some collusion there.

Jackson tore open the paper to reveal a purple, plush stegosaurus wearing a teddy bear Beacon Hills LaCrosse jersey. "Rawr," Jackson said, bouncing the dinosaur towards Isaac who dashed back to his seat on the couch next to Alison.

Cora reached for the next present, grabbing one on the fringes of the mess that Isaac had left in his wake. She checked the tag, handing it to Lydia.

* * *

"I think this poster tube rolled way under the tree," Scott said, sticking his head underneath to dig it out.

Actually, Derek had moved that one to the back on purpose, so that it had to be opened last. That Scott had taken over handing out the presents was a happy accident. Cora and Isaac had taken up residence on either side of him, Cora snuggled against his side, and Isaac sitting closer than he had in awhile, his head leaning against the back of the couch despite the presence of Derek's arm there.

Scott frowned at the tag. "It says to pack, from Derek. Who wants to open it?"

"You're the Alpha, kid," Ethan pointed out. There was a slight note of fond exasperation in his voice that Derek completely empathized with. Scott refused to grasp the concept of Alpha.

Scott sighed, his head hanging down. He tore the paper around the poster tube off in a series of continuous strips, glancing up at the Pack, eyes darting around the room, then popped open the tube and pulled out what was inside, unrolling the sheets.

"Blueprints?" Scott wrinkled his nose in confusion. "For a house?"

"In the woods on my property," Derek said. "They start tearing down what was left of the old pack house after the first of year. It won't be quite as grand as the old one, but it'll fit the entire pack until such time as people start marrying off and having kids." He glanced at Ethan. "Or adopting them. Everyone here will always have a home to go to in Beacon Hills. Always. And Aiden, Ethan, it's meant to be finished before the prepaid lease Deucalion took out on your penthouse expires, so you should be good on places to live. We can sneak on site and bury that hatchet--" he indicated the discarded box next to Ethan's chair "--in the foundation if you want."

The others were just staring.

"It's designed so we can add on if we want to," Derek said. "But I wasn't sure who would want to come back after school, and I didn't want to build more than we would need."

Isaac got up, looking over Scott's shoulder. His eyebrows shot up. Probably because one of the bedrooms had his name on it. "Thank you," he said.

The others echoed it as Isaac sat back down next to Derek. Derek's hand drifted to Isaac's shoulder.

Alison and Lydia started brainstorming what they could do with the interiors based on the blue prints and Aiden and Ethan just got up and stared.

"There's a room for you too, Cora," Isaac said quietly.

"Duh," Cora said. "I don't know why you felt the need to check that you had one. You're pack now, Isaac. That means you have a room in the pack house. That's how it works."

Isaac shrugged. Derek reached up and ruffled his curls. Isaac looked back, smiling shyly.

Derek looked up as Lydia shrieked, Stiles was tickling her and Aiden was laughing. Cora's new family wasn't the only one he'd gained this year. He wasn't sure how, and they were anything but conventional and certainly not entirely functional, but they were getting there.

* * *

They finally paused to catch their breath once they had cleared the preserve and were just out of human earshot of the gas station where they'd left Derek's car.

"It might've been easier to just ask the construction guys to let us put the hatchet in there," Aiden panted.

"You are paying them after all," Ethan said. "We didn't need to go sneaking around in the middle of the night like a bunch of teenagers."

"How old are you two, really?" Derek asked.

Aiden mimed zipping his lips, and Ethan didn't say anything.

"You don't _have_ to be going to high school."

"We never finished," Ethan said.

"This way is more fun than a GED," Aiden said.

"Someone's got to keep an eye on those kids," Ethan said.

"I'd argue that someone should be keeping an eye on you right now," Scott said, leaning against a tree.

"You're supposed to be in bed," Derek scolded.

"How'd you know we were out here?" Aiden asked.

"Stiles is sneakier than you all think," Scott said. "Especially now that he has Danny to help with the computer programming. Now that you've literally buried the hatchet, have you buried the figurative one? It would be nice, in future, to not have to sneak out in the middle of the night to find out why you three are in the preserve together. On a school night." He glared at the twins.

"And yet you didn't find us exactly," Derek said.

"Your phones were in the car," Scott said. "I didn't hear signs of fighting or smell distress, so I waited. I'll see you guys in the morning."

"How'd you get here?" Derek asked.

"I ran."

"Come on, we'll give you a ride," Aiden said.

"Doesn't Ethan have a math test first period tomorrow?" Scott asked.

"Scott, in the car," Derek said. "At least then if your mom sees you coming back in she'll know it was on Pack business."

"You're not the Alpha anymore." Scott crossed his arms.

"Still an adult," Derek said. "Not letting my teenage Alpha roam around the woods on his own in the middle of the night."

Scott looked at Aiden and Ethan.

Ethan picked Scott up into a fireman's carry.

"Ethan put me down," Scott said, trying to squirm out of his grip.

"I will when we get to the car," Ethan said.

Derek and Aiden looked at each other and shrugged.

Their new home might have just poured concrete for the basement, but it seemed like the foundation on their pack had been stirring forever and finally started to set.

End


End file.
